AR-15 or Mini 14?

[Andrew]

One thing that nobody mentioned yet about Mini's is the fact that the barrel heats up very quickly and has this plays havoc on accuracy.

I wouldn't have remembered this particular problem, but I was reminded of it yesterday at the range. The guy shooting next to me had a scoped Mini and when he first started shooting, he was getting about 2" groups at 50yds from the bench, but after a magazine or two, his shots were literally all over the place. I tried the rifle and I could barely keep the shots in a 5" circle. In contrast, when I stopped my hands from shivering (it was cold without gloves on!!) I was getting 1/4" to 1/2" groups with my Volq 10/22, and when I shoot my Bushmaster Shorty AK with iron sights at that distance, I usually get 3/4" to 1 1/4" groups.

 

[Jaeger]

I've owned a stainless Mini for about 10 years and a Bushmaster Dissipator for about 4. I love them both. The BM is very accurate and reasonably reliable. It does start to jam up when it gets really dirty or if it begins to dry out. Keep t cleaned and lubed and you'll have a long, happy relationship with most any AR you choose. They work best with milspec mags and those are unfortunately a bit flimsey. Buy lots of extras and take good care of them and they'll last a long time.

The Mini is a little brute. It is dead reliable with factory mags (high caps are rare and expensive!!!) and with PMI mags. I also have a few no name 30 rounders that I bought many years ago that are very reliable. They are steel mags and are more durable that AR mags. The Mini is far less sensitive to dirt and crud. (that's it's Garand heritage shining through!) With the proper load and allowing time for the barrel to cool my Mini will shoot 2 moa. Let that barrel heat up though and that opens up to 4-5moa pretty quickly. Even so I can regularly hit the 12" steel gong at 200 yds at my range from a semi braced position. I had my barrel cut back and an Eagle flash supressor/front sight permanently welded to the barrel giving me a total barrel length of 16 1/2". (including the supressor) What a handling improvement!!! (sight picture is much better also!) For the ranges that you are limited to with the Mini this modification really makes sense. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to improve the handling characteristics of their Mini. Accuracy is about the same. It now easily rivals the shorty ARs in CQB duty.
If you are worried about parts availability for the Mini quit it. Gun Parts carries everything you might need. Parts may not be as prolific as for the AR but they are easiy and readily available. I've only ever had to replace the gas block screws (my fault for screwing up the originals) and the extractor plunger and spring. All the parts were to my door within a few days of ordering them. Pretty good durability for 10 years of heavy shooting. (fwiw the new extractor plunger looks to be much improved over the old one and doesn't look at all likely to break again)